Greece’s labor market rebounded sharply in the second quarter of 2026, with the country’s tourism season fueling one of the strongest job recoveries in the European Union, according to newly released Eurostat data.
The number of Greeks moving from unemployment into jobs jumped more than sevenfold between the first and second quarters, rising from 16,000 to 121,000 people.
Unemployment-to-job transitions surge sevenfold in Greece
At the same time, the flow of workers losing their jobs and becoming unemployed fell by 71 percent, dropping from 59,000 to 17,000. Movement from outside the labor force directly into employment nearly tripled, climbing from 26,000 to 72,000.
In Q2 2026, the employment rate of people aged 20-64 in the EU stood at 76.4%.💼📈
Between Q1 2026 and Q2 2026, highest increases in:
🇵🇹 Portugal and 🇲🇹 Malta (+0.6 percentage points (pp) each)Largest decrease in:
🇦🇹 Austria (-0.4 pp)More data ➡️https://t.co/XjPi5FTjxR pic.twitter.com/pSwUaoIa7y
— EU_Eurostat (@EU_Eurostat) September 11, 2026
The gains were not limited to job seekers. Fewer people also left the workforce entirely. Transitions from employment into inactivity fell 48 percent, while the number of people moving from inactivity into unemployment dropped 47 percent, according to the figures.
Tourism fuels employment gains across Southern Europe
Eurostat separately reported that Greece’s employment rate rose 0.5 percentage points from the first to the second quarter, one of the largest increases among the bloc’s member states. Only Portugal and Malta posted bigger gains, each climbing 0.6 points, while Latvia and Slovenia matched pace with 0.4-point increases of their own.
The Hellenic Statistical Authority, Greece’s national statistics office, has said employment in the country typically rises during the summer months because of tourism, a seasonal pattern reflected once again in the latest figures.
Portugal, another tourism-dependent economy, showed a similar trend. Transitions from unemployment into jobs rose 41 percent there, while movement from inactivity into employment climbed 75 percent.
Greece’s labor market rebound outpaces the broader EU
Across the European Union as a whole, the shifts were milder. Transitions from unemployment into employment rose about 29 percent bloc-wide, compared with Greece’s sevenfold surge, while transitions out of employment into unemployment fell just under 20 percent.
More broadly, Eurostat estimated that 3.1 million previously unemployed people across the EU found jobs during the quarter, while roughly 7 million remained without work and 3.2 million left the labor force altogether. Among those employed at the start of the year, 2.5 million became unemployed, and 4.8 million exited the workforce.
Not every country’s employment rate moved in the same direction. Austria, Lithuania, and Sweden all recorded declines despite similar quarterly churn, underscoring how much of Greece’s labor market rebound this quarter reflects its outsized dependence on seasonal tourism work.
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